Mike ‘Burgermeister’ Tomlin issues team-wide ban on toys

Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike “Burgermeister” Tomlin is taking away all of the toys, finding them “illegal, unmoral, unlawful, and anyone found with a toy in his possession will be placed under arrest and thrown in the dungeon.”

Of course, for those of you old enough to remember, that’s a “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” reference, but it’s exactly what the frustrated coach is doing in an effort to get his 0-4 team focused on the big prize – winning their first game of the 2013 season.

No more table shuffleboard, ping pong and pool, all toys installed in the facilities as rewards for winning two Super Bowls under Tomlin, writes Josh Alper of ProFootballTalk.com.

At first veterans got a pass and only players with less than four years’ experience were banned from using the amenities, but now everyone is banned… no exceptions.

“From his point, it was dividing the team in a way,” safety Ryan Clark explained the reasoning behind Tomlin switching to a team-wide ban, via Alan Robinson of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “One sect of people couldn’t do a certain thing and he just wanted everybody to be together — because we’re all in the losses together. We’re all in the business of fixing this problem together. He didn’t want anything to divide us.”